Cuff-button.



N0. 64U,298 Patented Ian. 2, I900. W. L. MAURAN.

CUFF BUTTON.

(Application filed Oct, 19, 1899.)

WILLIAM L. MAURAN, OF PROVIDENCE, RIIODE ISLAND.

GUFF 'BTTON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 640,298, dated January 2, 1900.

Application filed October 19, 1899. Serial No- 734,092. (No modclJ To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LWILLIAM L. MAURAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cuff-Buttons, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

Like letters indicate like parts.

Figure 1 is an elevation of one of the pair of sections of which the post and knob of my improved cuff-button is made. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a diametrical section of the ornamental head of the button. Fig. 4: is an elevation showing how the parts are combined in the structure. Fig. 5 is a view in side elevation of my improved cuffbutton after the post thereof is properly bent. Fig. 6 is a similar view showing the use of a smooth rounded button-head in said construction.

My invention relates to that class of cuffbuttons which have a curved post or shank and two ornamental heads.

It consists of a longitudinally-divided post and knob, the two parts of which are each struck up in a suitable die by a plunger and thereafter united by solder, leaving, when the two halves are so united, an open flaring mouth or orifice at the smaller end of said post,in combination with an ornamental head, to the center of which on the back thereof, said open-mouthed end of the post is secured by a mass of solder therein, as hereinafter specified.

In the drawings, A, Figs. 1 and 2, represents a half-post, and B a half-knob, integral with each other and struck up from sheet metal by a suitable die and plunger. The smaller end a of the post flares outwardly, as shown.

C is the large ornamental head of the button, which may have the concavo-convex center 0, as shown in Fig. 3.

The two half-sections of the post A and knob 13 are soldered together along their contiguous straight edges :0, and the cylindrical post A, which is the result of this combination, is bent to the desired curve, as seen in Fig. 5. A mass of solder is inserted at e in the open flaring end a of the post and concavity c of the ornamental head 0 and fused, thus uniting the head 0 and post A. It is not, however, necessarythat the head 0 should be concavo-convex at its center, and in Fig. 6 I show an ornamental head having a smooth rounded exterior, to the back of which, at the center, the post A is soldered in the manner already described.

If desired, the head 0 can be soldered to the post A, as shown in Fig. 4, before the post A is bent, or a cuff-button having a straight post may be produced, as there shown.

By my improved mode of construction the labor and expense of manufacturing cuff-but tons are greatly reduced, as each button is made of but three pieces.

This invention is especially adapted to the manufacture of cuff-buttons from solid gold, as the stock can be drawn thinner by the die action described in producing the post and knob in longitudinal halves than by drawing it from a hollow wire, as usual.

The soldering along the contiguous straight edges or gives an interior concealed rib on each side within the compound post, which tends to strengthen it and make it more rigid. The solder by which the post and large ornamental head are united is wholly concealed, lying, as it does, wholly within the bell-shaped mouth a of the post and with a sufficient mass and area of contact with the head 0 to allow a firm and secure connection at this point, which is peculiarly liable to strain.

The effect of the bell shape a of the post is to give a lateral extension and consequent strength of resistance to sidewise strains or tensions, as well as to conceal the solder which unites the ornamental head to the post.

In solid-gold cuff-buttons it is common to insert a gem at the center of the large head, which is done by setting the precious stone in a hole made through the metal for the purpose; but it is usual in so doing to provide an inner disk which is soldered on the back of the button-head where that aperture is made, and such disk is generally exposed to sight on the back of the button-head. It is evident that in the construction which I have described such disk can be concealed within the bell a of the post A.

It is obvious that instead of curving the post by hand the two longitudinal halves thereof may be struck up in a curved form by an ornamental head, and a mass ofrsolder in dies and plunger-s, and so the separate operasaid end of, the post, united therewith and tion of bending can be dispensed with. with the center of said head on the under sur- I claim as a novel and useful invention and face thereof, substantially as specified. 5 desire to secure by Letters Patent- In testimony whereof I aflix my signature I 5 The improved cufi-button herein described, in presence of two Witnesses. consisting of the combination of a compound post and knob, having straight-edged longi- Witnesses: tudinal halves, soldered together and forming WARREN R. PERCE, lo a bell-shaped mouth at one end of said post, HOWARD A. LAMPREY.

WILLIAM L. MAURAN. 

